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Which is more accurate is a statistical question, which needs a bit more information.

Google's tool has a much bigger and more reliable dataset, since Google have the biggest database of search keywords. If you're going to trust one tool, use the one with the biggest dataset.

That said, every keyword tool processes the numbers before they provide them to you, which means that for some cases, a smaller dataset with different processing could give you a more reliable answer - long tail searches, for instance.

One key problem with Google's tool is that it's designed to give advertisers an idea of how many eyeballs their ad is likely to get. So, it includes things like impression data on the content network which heavily bias generic keywords.

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Google Adwords is a popular advertising medium that displays ads based on what someone enters in to the Google search engine. These ads are contextually aware. That means if you are searching for 'used trucks' you will likely see ads for companies selling something turcks related. Adwords are a very effective way to reach your target audience - assuming you know what search terms your audience is likely to enter.

The best thing about Google Adwords is how easy it is to measure return on investment. It's the ability to measure return on investment that allows you to use Google Adwords for market research and seo, here's how: run a Google Adwords campaign and measure its success. Keywords that don't perform have just told you something very important about your market. Those Adwords that failed told you either you have the wrong keywords for your market or your pitch wasn't appealing to your market. These two things alone will allow you to fine tune your marketing. You have just had a small failure that will lead to a more successful approach in the future.

For a key phrase I was researching, adwords key tool was showing a global search volume of nearly 300,000 while Keyword Discovery was showing only 400.

Yes to everything that Receptional_Andy said about the Google tool... with an important addition about the Keyword Discovery Tool to answer the above question....

The Google Tool, with all its anomalies, is the only tool that gives anything that's remotely close to actual Google searches. It's got the largest and most reliable dataset, but it's not confined just to organic searches, and I think you've got to be careful about how you use it. If you're trying to get numbers for organic search, it skews data in a number of ways, as Andy describes... And be careful not to use it on Broad Match if you're targeting organic search.

WordTracker works from an extremely small sample size, and IMO is completely unreliable for infrequently-searched terms.

Regarding the difference in Google and Keyword Discovery numbers that you mention, note that the (Trellian) Keyword Discovery Tool is not purporting to give monthly search volume. It gives an accumulation of data over time, which is helpful for establishing relative search volume, but not monthly volume. I find it more granular than WordTracker, but it's still got a smaller dataset than Google. It's got its own set of limitations (noted in threads below), but, among free tools, I find the free version of the Keyword Discovery Tool second best to the Google Tool.

Other discussions on the subject, which compare the available tools...

Would you please suggest some useful keywords tools?http://www.webmasterworld.com/keyword/3887036.htm [webmasterworld.com...]